Valley Snow Dogz Presentation At The Campton Historical Society

We had a really heart warming evening among a very enthusiastic audience. Many were dog lovers and had seen our truck on the road or articles in the newspapers and so, their interest was peaked to come and learn a little bit more about life with our furry family.  The evening started with us setting up outdoors with the dogz and our equipment.  We then ventured inside their beautiful and historic building for a very warm welcome.  We brought Cookqiz inside for a little light entertainment as she was very willing to give un-asked for 'high fives' last night.  We gave a lively slide show and some video of our journey over the last 20 years with sled dogz. We had some great questions to answer then the evening presentation spilled into more fun outdoors with us leaving the venue close to 9pm!  We had a full house, it was so well attended that we look forward to joining them in August for their annual Old Home Day.  With many thanks to the folk at the Campton Historical Society

A beautiful sign..
and a very beautiful and warm welcome from all that  attended
our Valley Snow Dogz presentation

Everyone had chance before and after the presentation
to come outside and meet the dogz and look at our
training rigs, racing and tour sleds


 

May Filled With Talks and Presentations

It's been a nice transition into our non-running season though we miss the routine a lot and we may still squeeze out a run or two with these cooler temperatures in the mornings and occasionally later in the evening. Otherwise, we'll hope for cool temperatures in  late August.  We've had a busy time with school presentations and talks, great for keep the dogs moving around and meeting folk and in the routine of Valley Snow Dogz while not actively giving tours or rides though we did just give a ride at the Franklin Central School, once again, during a really fun talk and live demo to a great group of kids.  With all the talks we do, we always make sure we give back and we have been able to do so this season through many charities and events that we have donated to and supported along with the humane society and various shelters.

Tuliq Turns 6 Weeks Old.. already!

Tuliq at 6weeks
and weighing in at 9lb 6oz

Having one puppy to raise
means you can get an early start on training
she has learned to eat out of her own bowl

 

Tuliq heads out on an adventure!

 

 

Feels Like Summer Today

We've been so lucky with cool nights so we've been able to keep the dogs running.  It was hard to believe the daytime temperature today -  upper 60's!  Gosh, it felt too warm too quickly. After living in thermals since last September, I surrendered to the need to shed my winter layer. I'm always reluctant to part with winter.  TJ lead the team last night alongside Cookqiz.  Right behind this pair was my faithful friend Yahboo who is still leading and running like a youngster at almost 12 yrs of age. Goodness, she is one special dog.  I often reflect to her early days of bushwhacking and multiple turns in fields. All that work created a superior leader.  Will I ever experience that again! There are a bunch hot on her tail I have to say.

Baby Tuliq

Tuliq Turns 3 Weeks old and Weighs
in at 3lb 3oz
She's just such a darling




Our friends Dawn and Steve came to visit.
Love this photo of Dawn snuggling Tuliq

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A Little Angel News

Miss Squish just turned 4 months old and weighed in at 40lb. She's an amazing pup, very smart and has adapted to our way of life very quickly. She thinks nothing of running around with 8-10 adults and seems happy to be in almost any combination of play groups. She's got one or two more dogs to interact with but so far, she's an easy keeper, she communicates well and is so attentive.  Must take some updated photos of her.  Meanwhile her niece, Tuliq is just about to turn 2 weeks old and is weighing in at 2lb.  She is doing really quite well and is very outgoing and a fast little crawler.  She is a bit lighter than previous puppies we've had (at this age) but she is healthy and nicely proportioned. I'm sure she'll catch up in her own time.  She is simply adorable

 



 

 

 

Winter Is Almost Over For The Dogs and Valley Snow Dogz

We ran our last sled tour this past Easter Sunday and though tempting to be out there for one or two more sled runs, we will wait a few more days and start some dryland training instead.   Dougie and White Feather have done great on a few short tours and will be on the team this spring.  We also have lots of obedience and fun walks to do with 4 month old Miss Squish and of course, lots of nurturing of our latest addition, 2 day old Tuliq.  We typically like to run into May or for as long as the temperatures allow us to.  Its a great time to try out new leaders, get older dogs back out and simply have a lot of fun mixing things around.  We have some presentations to do this spring also so some of the dogs will be on the road with us.  In the meantime... there's some catching up to do here at the homestead. 

Rosie Delivers Baby Tuliq

Rosie gave birth to a singleton pup. A beautiful and vibrant girl named Tuliq. So named in honor of her Alaskan heritage, our good friend Kim Fitzgerald and Rosie's mother, Tulipq.  We do believe Rosie had a couple of other babies who sadly did not make it much beyond mid-term.  We are lucky that Tuliq survived and is doing so well.  Rosie had a fairly long labor but was doing fairly well until close to the end when we did have to make the call to the vet to have a shot of oxytocin to induce greater contractions to help push out the baby.  Kim and Kelly Berg were outstanding and were with us during the early hours of the morning and then later at the vets.  It was an experience for us all and so glad we shared it together as close friends. Rosie loves the girls and was very comfortable having them around.  Tuliq was born at Rumney Animal Hospital on April 3rd, 2013 at 7am and weighed 15.8oz.  Mom and baby are doing great!

Rosie
exhausted after delivering baby Tuliq

 

 

 

And here she is, Baby Tuliq
15.8oz

 

 

 

Tuliq with her toy siblings

 

 

2 Weeks To Go !

Just two weeks to go before we see the little ones that are nestled in Rosie's belly and we simply cannot wait.  Rosie was bred with Tumac's son TJ a spectacular athlete and devoted friend to us and his team mates.  Both are so driven in harness, both leaders and sweet, gentle souls.

Rosie carries the Redington line which is a line that I have loved since experiencing it through our dogs.  Most recently we have seen this old genetic connection reborn in Linda Newman's recent litter. The sire was Rosie's father, Illo and the dam, Irish, was from Linda's Zulu (Butcher/Beargrease) line.

We since discovered that Joe Redington's famous leader, Feets,sired a litter from which a pup went toSusan Butcher's kennel, so it is possible that Joe's old school line is showing up through Illo and Irish and perhaps soon, through Rosie.  Looking at photos from that era and Joe's dog Feets, we see such similarities in Linda's two black and white pups, one being Miss Squish (Rosie's half sister) who now lives with us.  Linda and I are looking further into this possibility and trying to attain more information .

 

We just love this line, we love the history and we love everything about these soulful, hard working, devoted, mild mannered sled dogs.

Miss Squish and Linda's Visit

Jumping into March with the arrival of Miss Squish out of Points Unknown in MN where some of our initial Hedlunds came from.  Miss Squish is out of Irish x Illo, bred by Linda Newman, our long standing friend who graciously flew over with her. This was Linda's 3rd visit to NH and we were grateful to have her escourt Miss Squish safely and at the same time, get to spend some quality time together over the period of a few days.  Miss Squish shares the same father as our beloved Rosie, so she is half-sister to Rosie and brings a bit more of the Zulu and Redington genes to our kennel. She is a smart pup with a super build.  An easy keeper who has settled quickly into an indoor/outdoor routine.  She's a cuddle bunny to boot!  We had a fab time with Linda even though we did have work some and tours were scheduled on Squam Lake during Linda's visit which enabled us to take her out there so she could see some of our beautiful area and experience one of our tours. She was able to take some awesome photos which we have yet to fully display, this will be a fun project once we are done with tours perhaps.  With many thanks to Linda and Neil for their gift of friendship and Miss Squish.  Somehow.... I'll get to MN next !

Photos courtesy of Linda's talents.

Miss Squish or 'Missy' for short
14 weeks old

Miss Squish plays with TJ while we get

our sleds ready for tours

 

That's one hard working team!

 

You really get a good sense of the weather

as we cross the lake

 

I love this photo that Linda took

 

 

 

 

 

 

The dogz from Valley Snow Dogz took some time out to race and took part in a local event at Hill Village, Bristol NH as part of the PSHR race series.  18 teams showed up, it was a great day with coolish temperatures and lots teams supporting the event.  We ran a 6-dog team in the 12.5 mile race and 2 pups in the puppy/old dog race.  We were very happy with the dogz performance and our 4th place finish with a time of 1hr 54 seconds... fastest time was 55 mins 30 seconds by Sydney Plant, then 2nd place was Kim Berg at 58 mins 34 secs, 3rd place was Kelly Berg at 1hr 51 seconds... just 3 seconds between us and Kelly Berg.  It was close and so much fun!

 

We were but a 'blurr' to quote Richard..
18 teams took part in the PSHR at Hill Village
We took 4th place with just minutes, seconds, separating the top teams

 

 

White Feather and Dougie, aged 9 months took 3rd place
in the PSHR Race at Hill Village
With no adult to guide them, they did an amazing job
What hard working, smart puppies they are

February passed as a blurr, we were very busy with tours and training runs.  Dogz were running very well, a couple of fissures on some of the dogs but all in all, a healthy and vibrant month with lots of activity and enough snow to make all our Waterville Valley and Squam lake tours successful.  Valley Snow Dogz also appeared in over a dozen publications along with several appearances on WMUR.  Some of the races we were training for were canceled due to insufficient snow which was really a shame because the dogs had a lot of miles on them and aside from our tours and rides, the training schedule we set about to achieve was well underway with hopes of being at the Can-am 60 this season.  Anyway, if there is ever a good reason not to be somewhere... we certainly had one.  We decided to breed Rosie with TJ and as Rosie had lost her last litter, it was only right to remain home with her and monitor her progress.  She came into heat a bit sooner than hoped for but as it turns out, we will know have the blessing of Rosie pups on our tours next season.